Have you ever lent a favorite book to a friend who is tardy at returning it? Quite a bad feeling, isn`t it?
The stealing of books, perhaps the most selfish of all forms of theft, has a history that goes back to the beginning of libraries, when books were rare and thus a greater temptation. Nowadays, people take advantage of the availability of public libraries by stealing them for multiple reasons (their cost is one of them!! ).
But the list of the most common stolen books from public libraries is indeed an interesting one. Take a peek below:
The most stolen books from libraries
- The Guinness Book of Records tops the list as the most stolen book from public libraries.
- The Bible. Apparently, people believe that the Word of God should be free. I guess people don’t realize the whole point of a library.
- Exam Prep Books. You name the exam, the prep book gets stolen. People steal these because they require extensive practice at home, and many times it takes longer than the library check out period allows. The most interesting: law enforcement officers training manuals are among the most commonly stolen exam prep books.
- Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition and other racy books/magazines, including art books with nude photos/paintings, Kama Sutra manuals, and erotica novels. This makes a little bit more sense – people are embarrassed to check these types of books out. Believe it or not, people tend to actually rip out pages with sexy illustrations on them and stash them instead of checking out the book.
- Art Books. Expensive art books can net a pretty penny when sold on eBay.
- Reference Books/Books on University Reading Lists/Textbooks. These are typically expensive to buy, and starving college students need them for much longer than the library check out period allows.
- Books About the Abnormal. Paranormal activity. UFOs. Witchcraft. Abortion. Astrology. Nazi-era material. And…Islam?
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